Battle of Toulouse (1814)

Battle of Toulouse
Part of the Peninsular War
Panoramic view of the battle with allied troops in the foreground and a fortified Toulouse in the middle distance
Date 10 April 1814 Location Toulouse, France 43°36′16″N 1°26′38″E / 43.6044°N 1.4439°E / 43.6044; 1.4439 Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
France	United Kingdom Spain Portugal
Commanders and leaders
Nicolas Soult	Marquess of Wellington
Strength
42,043[1]	49,446[2]
Casualties and losses
3,236[3]	4,558[3]

Peninsular war: Spain

200km
125miles

Toulouse

12

Vitoria

11

Tordesillas

10

Burgos

9

Salamanca

8

Ciudad

7

Talavera

6

Corunna

5

Tudela

4

Bailén

3

Valencia

2

Madrid

1

  

  current battle

  Wellington in command

  Wellington not in command

The Battle of Toulouse took place on April 10, 1814, just four days after Napoleon's surrender of the French Empire to the Sixth Coalition, marking one of the final conflicts of the Napoleonic Wars. Having pushed the demoralised and disintegrating French Imperial armies out of Spain in a difficult campaign the previous autumn, the Allied British-Portuguese and Spanish army under the Duke of Wellington pursued the war into southern France in the spring of 1814.

The city of Toulouse, the regional capital, put up a fierce resistance under the command of Marshal Soult, who defended it tenaciously. One British and two Spanish divisions were badly mauled in bloody fighting on 10 April, with Allied losses exceeding French casualties by 3,000.^[4] Marshal Soult retreated from Toulouse, leaving behind 1600 wounded soldiers including three generals.

Wellington's entry on the morning of 12 April was acclaimed by a great number of French Royalists, validating Soult's earlier fears of potential fifth column elements within the city. That afternoon, the official word of Napoleon's abdication and the end of the war reached Wellington. Soult agreed to an armistice on 17 April.